It’s pretty obvious what the angle is here — Beto said he was in a punk band, but he’s dressed like a hippie in a flowery tunic that’s straight out of Haight Ashbury circa 1967. His facial hair is a little jam bandy, photoshop in a hacky sack and he could be at a Phish show. Nothing is more antithetical to the punk ethos than extended jams and feel-good vibes. This could hurt Beto badly among Black Flag dads in the inner-ring suburbs around Houston and Dallas, where the race will be won or lost.

Just kidding — all this photo proves is that a guy who now resembles a better-looking Bobby Kennedy used to resemble a better-looking young Keith Caradine. That, and the Texas GOP is running scared. Every time I put up the thermometer for Beto, the place blows up, as the kids say, so I upped the goal to $7500 and I’m putting up again.

Speaking of jam bands, after we did the last post raising money for Wyoming Senate candidate Gary Trauner, Gary himself emailed us to remind us that he’s a reader who shares John’s love of the Dead, and went to school in the town I’m from. He also shared an internal poll conducted by PPP showing that when voters learn about the candidates, the race tightens to 2 points. Not much money will spent on this race but Gary is legit candidate who has almost won statewide office in Wyoming before and ran unopposed in the Dem primary. I think supporting him is money well spent — you never know when a GOP candidate is going to implode or when a wave turns out to be bigger than the pundits expected.

Good news in my district. Seems the GOP is getting ready to yank funding from Keith Rothfus. The polls are great for Conor Lamb and it looks like Tom Wolf is cruising to reelection with a new Lt. Governor, John Fetterman. And Bob Casey looks completely safe. Hopefully, we’ll get a new state rep, a newcomer, Terri Mitko. There’s no polling on that email ace that I know of, but I’m hoping a Dem sweep carries her along.

I’d like to suggest the WA-5 Congressional race for targeting. Cathy McMorris Rogers, 4th in GOP House leadership, is facing her toughest opponent, Lisa Brown. The polls show them about 4-5 points apart. The congresswoman did do us the favor of bringing in Devin Nunes for a fundraiser where he spilled the beans about the GOP’s plans on Kavenaugh and Rosenstein.

@Snarki, child of Loki: It always puzzles me how much Ted Cruz’s supporters think that being a debate school champion makes a difference in his ability to “win” a debate. Sure, it’s nice experience to have, but winning a debate in a debate contest and winning a political debate are two different things. Just ask Al Gore, who wiped the floor with W in 2000 and still was told he “lost”.

He can make all the debate points he wants, but if he’s unappealing (his default mode), then it’s not going to help.

@Immanentize: I didn’t watch any Republican debates (I don’t have the stomach for it), but I didn’t recall him laying a glove on T-Rump (or anyone else). Of course, Hillary destroyed Spankee in the debates (even considering how the bar was so low that the media was complimentary that he didn’t just shit himself and wallow in his own filth while screaming racial and misogynist obscenities), and she still lost, so….

More than a month after a court deadline passed for the government to reunite families divided by Trump’s border crackdown, nearly 500 children remain in U.S. government-funded shelters without their parents, according to court papers filed Thursday night.

Advocates and government officials say it could be weeks, months or longer before they are together.

Nearly two-thirds of the 497 minors still in custody — including 22 “tender-age” children, who are younger than 5 — have parents who were deported, mostly in the first weeks of Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy.

a Republican incumbent in Texas playing the “why are you afraid to debate” game? Ted’s internal polls must be showing a tie (inherent eeyorism prevents me from saying any more).

This isn’t their only oppo

Police reports detail Beto O’Rourke’s 1998 DWI arrest

O’Rourke’s been pretty open about the arrest, so I doubt this will have any impact, but the reporter and editors should be listed as in-kind contributors to Cruz for this sentence alone

Although the arrest has been public knowledge, police reports of the September 1998 incident – when the Democratic Senate candidate had just turned 26 – show that it was a more serious threat to public safety than has previously been reported.

@pamelabrown53: act blue will ask if you want to leave a “tip”. Pretty sure that’s how they make their cut.

Nearly 1.3 million Vietnamese citizens have immigrated to the United States since the communist takeover of South Vietnam in 1975. Many came in the wave of “boat people” who made headlines in the late 1970s as they fled Vietnam in overcrowded and unsafe vessels.

The new arrivals were given green cards when they reached the United States, but many — Huynh among them — lacked the education, language skills or legal help needed to negotiate the complex bureaucratic process of acquiring citizenship.

Many came as children, attended schools and colleges in the United States, worked, paid taxes and raised families. Decades on, their lives and families could be ripped apart again.

The Trump administration, in a policy shaped by senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, has reinterpreted a 2008 agreement reached with Vietnam by the George W. Bush administration — that Vietnamese citizens who arrived before the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1995 would not be “subject to return.” Now, the White House says, there is no such immunity to deportation for any noncitizen found guilty of a crime.

a Republican incumbent in Texas playing the “why are you afraid to debate” game?

And of course Beto has proposed a debate schedule, including debates in Spanish, and I doubt too many Texans don’t know that. Cruz is trying to insist on Friday nights, which as I understand it is the time of some deeply important religious festival in Texas so nobody is going to be watching political debates then.

I heard one of their weirder attacks, weirder than “he was in a band”, was “Beto uses a nickname”. Unlike Rafael Cruz.

Based on the reaction to our tweets we can confirm that Beto is in fact going to receive 100% of the vote from Buzzfeed contributors, out of state liberals, and people who use the word “rad.” We feel very owned :'(

This was the Texas GOP’s response. Yeah, they’re running scared and this was flailing at its best

@🇺🇸🌎 Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) 🗳🌷:
I saw that. Methinks they have no idea how big BuzzFeed is, or maybe even what it is. They got straight up crushed on Twitter too, although they forgot to mention that.

@TenguPhule:
Those people would have no place to call home and would be forced to live under an oppressive regime. What if Vietnam refused to take them? And could offspring born in the US really be deported as well?

@Immanentize:
While my buddy was living in Texas they tightened up the open container law: it was no longer legal for the driver to be in possession of such a container. Obvious joke was everybody now had to take a passenger along and the question was raised whether the dog could legally be in possession of said container.

@trollhattan:
When I lived in Austin, there was a place called “The Party Barn” on Guadalupe (?) That was a drive through liquor store.

Just a side note — in Texas, unlike most states, one can be placed under arrest for pretty much every moving violation. Broken tailight? Arrested!
Which means the police can them search you and your car.

Don’t yet see which thread people are using to talk about Patten, charged with failing to register in as a foreign agent This is a good summary of the stuff he’s not charged with, but seemingly involved with … but still indirect proof … but he’s cooperating so …

Raw Story
Lobbyist Sam Patten agreed to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors after admitting to failing to register in as a foreign agent for his lobbying work for a Ukrainian political party.

Patten worked with Manafort … and suspected Russian intelligence operative Konstantin Kilimnik, who was indicted this summer in the special counsel probe.
…
Special counsel Robert Mueller referred the Patten case to the U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia as part of his sprawling investigation of Trump campaign ties to Russia.

Patten worked at the Oregon officer of Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, SCL Group, where he helped the data company develop voter targeting operations ahead of the 2014 midterm elections.

The lobbyist described that work on his professional website, saying that he helped conduct beta tests of voter micro-targeting that he boasted were “adopted by at least one major U.S. presidential candidate.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) hired Cambridge Analytica during his Republican primary run, but after he dropped out the data company was hired by Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who oversaw the campaign’s digital operations.

Mueller is investigating the company, which was owned by hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer.

There’s no evidence that Patten did any work for the Trump campaign or Cambridge Analytica, whose board included Trump’s campaign CEO and former chief White House strategist Steve Bannon.

But he played a central role in SCL Group’s work in Nigeria in early 2015, when the Cambridge Analytica parent company reportedly hired Israeli hackers to steal emails and dig compromising information on the candidate challenging incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan.

Russian hackers conducted similar operations against Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 campaign, and Mueller is investigating how the Trump campaign knew which specific voters to target with that hacked data on social media.

Nate Silver still has my ruby red district as a 1 in 100 chance of going blue but, I swear, I sense some momentum out there. Have been door knocking and phone calling and getting at worst polite and at best enthusiastic answers from people who didn’t vote in 2014 and 2016. I’m a born pessimist but have been feeling a renewed spring in my step.

Trump tweeted that he’s going to do a joint rally with Cruz. He and Cruz are getting epically dragged in the comments, including copies of Trump’s classic “Lyin’ Ted” tweets.

I will be doing a major rally for Senator Ted Cruz in October. I’m picking the biggest stadium in Texas we can find. As you know, Ted has my complete and total Endorsement. His opponent is a disaster for Texas – weak on Second Amendment, Crime, Borders, Military, and Vets!

At B Bush’s funereal, I think it was, he looked and sounded very weak, then I saw him a few weeks later at a smaller event, and he was much stronger. Not quite his old self, but stronger. His strength seems to vary greatly since the heart surgery, with a Fristian TV diagnosis

Another court development this afternoon: Last night Trump and children filed to get a NYS lawsuit dismissed. Foundation is accused of being “a personal piggy bank to serve Trump’s business and political interests,” incl. for 2016 presidential campaign.

Raw Story

U.S. President Donald Trump, his three adult children and his namesake foundation are seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit by the New York state attorney general accusing the nonprofit of “self-dealing” for Trump’s benefit, including for his 2016 presidential campaign.

In a Thursday night court filing, the defendants said the lawsuit by Attorney General Barbara Underwood targeting the Donald J. Trump Foundation contained “fundamental legal and factual deficiencies,” and was politically motivated, reflecting her office’s “antipathy” toward the president.

“Relief is sought based on the NYAG’s appearance of partiality; its overwhelming conflict of interest; and its resulting unwillingness to resolve this matter without litigation,” Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for the defendants, wrote.

Amy Spitalnick, a spokeswoman for Underwood, said on Twitter: “As our lawsuit detailed, the Trump Foundation functioned as a personal piggy bank to serve Trump’s business and political interests. We won’t back down from holding President Trump and his associates accountable for their flagrant violations of New York law.”

My daughter turns 18 soon and we were talking about voting and how to choose. She’s declared that she’s going to favor lesbians that drop Monster Factory references and while I think that’s a great start, I advised her she might need to cast a slightly larger net.

In court documents, prosecutors allege that Patten also worked with the two foreigners to help “Foreigner B” make an illegal contribution to Trump’s Inauguration. They said “foreign B” then attended the Inauguration with Patten. Patten also agreed that he misled the Senate Intelligence Committee when he testified before the panel in January 2018.

Patten has a varied résumé. He worked in the oil sector in Kazakhstan in the mid-to-late 1990s and served as Maine campaign director for George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign. He also briefly worked at the State Department under Bush and worked as a political consultant in Iraq assisting officials there in the post-Saddam Hussein period.

@tobie:
Have long since stopped being surprised but wow, the breadth and depth of the grift simply go over the horizon. If you can imagine that he did it, he did it. If you can’t imagine it, he did it anyway.

Don’t you love it? Supposedly the GOP/ White Supremacy Party is informing us of Beto’s whiteness? …And that supposed to hurt him?

Here’s what might hurt Beto in a photo finish election: Trump’s renewed policy of denying Latinos with hispanic surnames in south Texas. Why NOW? Could it be voter suppression? Anyone who may have a birth attended by a certain mid-wife or physician is ON NOTICE. Totally cowed and keeping a low profile, i.e, won’t vote or anything else related to government..

In a race that could be decided by a few hundred votes, Trump just hugely intimidated a few hundred/thousand votes. Am I paranoid?

Obvious joke was everybody now had to take a passenger along and the question was raised whether the dog could legally be in possession of said container.

@trollhattan: I don’t know about legally, but if me and the dog are in the car with an open container, he’ll be the one drinking out of it. Fucker’s a little alcoholic. Most dogs will drink beer. But I’ve NEVER seen one go after wine or hard alcohol, but mine will happily drink both. No, I don’t give him wine or tequila, but this beautiful, cute golden retriever is a drink thief. Gotta watch him if I have people over.

@pamelabrown53:
“Ted’s” hubris is so all-consuming I can picture him rubbing his hands and cackling (Grandpa Munster voice, of course) over all these “gets.” That band pic–pure gold! “Beto” not his actual name–he’s doomed!

Truthfully, I’ve never encountered the name Beto in my life. Hard to envision it helping or hindering him.

A page on Patten’s website that has since been removed said he “worked with one of London’s most innovative strategic communications companies to introduce new technologies and methodologies” during the 2014 US election.

During an interview last year with a British academic researcher, Patten said: “I’ve worked in Ukraine, Iraq, I’ve worked in deeply corrupt countries, and [the American] system isn’t very different.”

Ted GenowaysVerified account@TedGenoways
Replying to @robferdman
Ted Cruz played Adam in a mime performance of the Christian creation story when he was in high school. Is this really the fight that he wants to have?

Question: I’ve always donated directly to candidates,soooo…how much of my donation goes to Beto and what % does ActBlue retain?

When you donate to a candidate via ActBlue 100% of the donation goes to the candidate. If you wish, you may add a percentage tip to your donation, which bumps it up by that amount, So if you agree to donate $100 to Beto, and then agree to add a 10% tip for ActBlue’s operating expenses, you get $110 debited to your credit/debit card. You don’t have to donate anything to ActBlue.

I actually make a specific monthly donation to ActBlue, and do not add tips to my donations to candidates.

I am donating monthly to Beto and a number of other candidates for House and Senate. Amy McGrath in KY for one. Making your donation monthly is another option ActBlue asks about after you pick an amount. So if you are inclined to go monthly, think about making the initial amount smaller, perhaps.

You get emailed receipts for all those donations when they debit your account, and you can review your donations at ActBlue as well. It’s a well done system.j

Someone with better image-editing skills than me is cordially invited to photoshop Crooze’s fugly mug into a Soviet-era flight suit with a big red star on the headgear or jacket & then identify him as “FailGunner” (or maybe “Flailgunner”) on the Tu-22M Backfire. IMHO that would be a hoot and a half……

@Steeplejack (phone): @Kay: I’d say Beto’s still a long shot because Texas is Texas (but Cruz is Cruz, and “likability” is a real thing) but this is interesting on trump’s actual numbers there, at the link

Thank you for posting this Doug! Working the phones this week for Beto! Canvassing over the weekend. Scored points with the Whataburger/skate boarding ad. Then CBS posted a bullshit headline. The GOP brought in their best people and a shit-load of money, and the very best they could do is this weak tea. This is old, old news used against Beto is a previous campaign BTW. Please donate, Juicers.
Don’t forget Colin Allred in TX-32 (closing in on Pete Sessions) and Ms. Johnson in TX-30 needs help holding her seat. Thanks.

I read that after Trump was elected, that he isn’t particularly popular in Texas. It makes me like Texas more, that they don’t like Trump. I didn’t DISLIKE Texas, but it’s interesting that even though they’re R’s they reject the big jerk. Good for them.

@trollhattan: Rafael was trying to accuse Beto of trying to make himself sound more Hispanic. Beto then showed a picture from when he was a baby wearing a shirt with Beto on it. Every single bit of “dirt” they try to present keeps boomeranging back on them. It’s beautiful.

He looks and sounds terrible. Still some delightful and delicious flashes of the old Bill, and his speech — almost all delivered without referring to his notes — was vintage Clinton; but his voice was weak, he looked rather unsteady, and now I’m wondering if he might have had perhaps a series of small strokes or something. I want him to live for a good long time yet, but for the first time I’m really concerned about his health.

I don’t know what the “punk ethos” is, probably due to my excessive old age, but in the pics of Beto as a young man in a band, he can’t seem to pull off an expression of disdain, ennui, or aloofness as the others do. Instead, he is barely able to suppress a pleasant smile. He has an open countenance and looks cheerful and good-natured in most situations. Very appealing!

@Aleta: In not-quite-related-but-close news, Alexander Zakharchenko, head of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” was assassinated by bomb today. In a humorous twist, he was in a cafe called “Separatist” in downtown Donetsk. As some wag said on Twitter, Rest in Pieces.

Ukraine’s SBU (think like FBI) issued a statement saying, basically, looks like a business matter.

The Lizard King cometh. No, not Jim Morrison. The REAL Lizard King — an Asian water monitor named “Bamboo” that’s been chilling in a South Florida neighborhood and appears to be unstoppable, or at least untrappable.

The 6-foot, 100-pound monstrosity has been thwomping around in the Broward County town of Davie since Monday and has thwarted all attempts at capture, including hooks, hunting dogs and human hands. Experts have identified it as an Asian water monitor, a breed of gargantuan lizard native to Southeast Asia. It is the second-heaviest lizard species — a runner-up to the Komodo dragon. They have an outstanding sense of smell, and have even been used in Asia for missing persons and death investigations.

Bamboo first appeared in the backyard of the Lieberman family on Aug. 27 and has returned several times since. At first, the family thought it was an alligator because he was so massive.

Iran has given ballistic missiles to Shi’ite proxies in Iraq and is developing the capacity to build more there to deter attacks on its interests in the Middle East and to give it the means to hit regional foes, Iranian, Iraqi and Western sources said.

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Any sign that Iran is preparing a more aggressive missile policy in Iraq will exacerbate tensions between Tehran and Washington, already heightened by U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

It would also embarrass France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the three European signatories to the nuclear deal, as they have been trying to salvage the agreement despite new U.S. sanctions against Tehran.

According to three Iranian officials, two Iraqi intelligence sources and two Western intelligence sources, Iran has transferred short-range ballistic missiles to allies in Iraq over the last few months. Five of the officials said it was helping those groups to start making their own.

“The logic was to have a backup plan if Iran was attacked,” one senior Iranian official told Reuters. “The number of missiles is not high, just a couple of dozen, but it can be increased if necessary.”

Iran has previously said its ballistic missile activities are purely defensive in nature. Iranian officials declined to comment when asked about the latest moves.

The Iraqi government and military both declined to comment.

The Zelzal, Fateh-110 and Zolfaqar missiles in question have ranges of about 200 km to 700 km, putting Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh or the Israeli city of Tel Aviv within striking distance if the weapons were deployed in southern or western Iraq.

The Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has bases in both those areas. Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani is overseeing the program, three of the sources said.

Haha! I was actually in the hall for that! First time I had ever heard of him.

The length of that speech gave him instant national prominence. A few days later he was invited on the “Tonight” Show, and Carson said “That wasn’t your finest hour.” Clinton shot back “Hell, it wasn’t even my finest two hours!”

@Betty Cracker: YES!! That’s fantastic news. I wish I could say the same about the gubernatorial race in Maryland. I haven’t seen any ads from the Democratic candidate, Ben Jealous, as yet and the current Republican Governor is leading in the polls. Sigh.

Just read where Fat Bastard is here in North Carolina today to campaign for two GOP congressmen who are trailing opponents. Latest poll has Trump at 60% negative/36% positive. His dyslexia will have him reading that as 60% favorable!

I didn’t listen to Clinton today, but my media-connected friend was at an event with him in 2016 and said at the time that he was getting that quavery “old man voice” thing, which he seemed able to overcome for speeches, etc.

He’s 72 and has had major heart surgery. And someone upthread mentioned that he’s the first in his family to even reach 70. Maybe it’s just an “old age” thing. It comes at different times for different people.

A final update on my work friend. Her mother took her off life support this morning. The “good” news is that her children were born here so they are Irish citizens. In addition, she has a brother here who she named as guardian. They will be raised here. So all is as well as it can be in this horrible situation. Thank you all for your support and extra thanks to Satby for putting me in touch with Tom. While we happily won’t need his services, it was heartening to have the information.

It seems wild that Patten and his company (formed 50-50 with a Russian national, Foreigner A) were doing all the work involving Congress (described in the filing document, copy at cnn) without registering as a foreign agent. (Even though Patten knew the law and had registered before for other jobs.)

The filing says his company was working for the Opposition Bloc (a Ukrainian political party) and for a “prominent Ukraine oligarch (Foreigner B).” (B is said to be Serhiy Lovochkin). Patten says he didn’t register because Foreigner B asked him not to yet.

So was this somwhat common practice? Did none of the Congress members who met with the foreign nationals have aides who checked on registration? Or did they know and ignore the law?

@HeleninEire: Good news about staying in Ireland. I hope the brother turns out to be an excellent guardian. How hard for those little ones, to lose both parents within 2 years. (What happened to their dad?)

@Elizabelle: It’s been a nice funeral service so far. I really loved President Clinton’s speech. He really knows how to say the right thing at the right time. I also loved AG Holder’s comments — funny and poignant.

I also liked the way Debbie Stabenow wove together the simultaneous mourning for both Aretha Franklin and John McCain, pointing out that between them — though they were very different people — they represented everything that is good and positive about America.

@Geeno: It was heartening to see her limited remarks. But, WTS, The Hill has gone full on trash. If you read the rest of the article, beyond Ms. Roem’s comments, you will see some serious RWNJ framing.

@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I remember seeing a photo of Ted Cruz as an undergraduate. He had a fortyish air about him even at that age. He was, as I understand, the sort of young dude who liked to give that impression

@Aleta:
Was this illegal practice somwhat common and accepted? Did none of the Congress members who were asked to meet with the foreign nationals have aides who checked on registration? Or did they know and ignore the law, or refuse the meetings but not report?

PATTEN violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act by contacting members of the United States legislative and executive branches as well as the media. Such communications included efforts to set up meetings between Foreigners A and B with Members of Congress and staff.

PATTEN also drafted talking points for Foreigner B for his meetings on Capitol Hill as well as talking points for Congressional staffers to use to convince other Congressional Members and staff to meet with Foreigner B. The activity was undertaken to promote the interests of Foreigner B and the Opposition Bloc to infl uence United States policy. In addition, during this time period, PATTEN and Foreigner A assisted Foreigner B in drafting periodic articles (e.g. “op-eds”) targeted at the United States press.

4. Specifically, PATTEN in coordination with Foreigner A worked on setting up meetings in Washington, D.C., from on or about January 19, 2015, through on or about Jantary 21,2015, between Foreigner B and (a) Members of Congress and their staff – specifically, Senators on the Foreign Relations Committee and Representatives on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs; (b) the Executive Branch – including officials from the U.S. Department of State; and (c) numerous members of the United States media. PATTEN also drafted and provided staffers with points of discussion conceming Foreigner B and his message with respect to ukraine.

As another example, in or around May 2016, PATTEN and Foreigner A wrote a letter for Foreigrier B to use in lobbying a high-ranking member ofthe Department of State regarding recent developments on the Ukrainian Central Election Commission, and requested the official’s engagement on the issue.

5. PATTEN also drafted op-ed pieces on behalf of Foreigner B and then placed them with United States media. For instance, in or around Jantary 2017, PATTEN and Foreigner A drafted an op-ed article on behalf ofForeigner B to address concems regarding LJkraine’s ability to work effectively with the new United States administration. PATTEN then attempted to get the op-ed article placed with various United States media outlets. In or around February 2017, PATTEN succeeded in having the op-ed article published in a national United States media outlet. Prior to the publication ofthe op-ed, PATTEN facilitated Foreigner B’s signing the required United States media outlet’s license agreement.

6. PATTEN knew at the time that he took all ofthe actions described above that the Foreign Agents Registration Act required him to register in order to engage legally in such United States activities for a foreign principal. PATTEN had previously filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act for another client. PATTEN and Foreigner A inquired of Foreigner B whether Company A could file under the Foreign Agents Registration Act; Foreigner B said in substance that he did not want them to register now, but they could eventually do so at an unspecified future.

Oh, and in Bill Clinton’s remarks, I loved the story he told about arriving early at the last concert she performed (an Elton John benefit). She “summoned” him over and when he approached her she greeted him with “How you doin’, baby?” LOL.

Also enjoyed that he had her perform in the Rose Garden during the state visit of the Emperor and Empress of Japan. “I thought she might loosen them up a little bit.” LOL again.

@Elizabelle: He died last year of cancer. The while situation is so sad. Sorina fought tooth and nail with him for 3 years, and then 6 months ago her Father died and then just a few weeks ago she had to go back to Romania because her father in law UNBELIEVABLY had a brain hemorrhage just like her. He will be OK. But we thought her streak of horrible times was over.

Well, my mother died at age 58 — as had her father at the same age — both of cardiovascular stuff. So you can imagine that I approached my own 58th birthday with some trepidation (especially as I had had a heart attack several years earlier). Got through the birthday just fine, but seven months later I had quadruple bypass surgery! So much luckier than my mother and grandfather and here I am at 76! But I definitely know those complex emotions.

I do plan to watch McCain’s funeral tomorrow, assuming some nice FP puts up a link. Really want to see/hear Obama’s and W’s eulogies, and I’ve always been a real sucker for the Navy Hymn (“Eternal Father, strong to save”).

When I lived in Austin, there was a place called “The Party Barn” on Guadalupe (?) That was a drive through liquor store.

IN Louisiana they have drive throughs that sell daiquris — there’s a plastic top pulled tight across the big cuppa rum and stuff. We got a cab in NOLA once after touring the Quarter to the restaurant where we had reservations, and when the driver pulled out, his beer fell into the door well by his left foot. We all laughed, it didn’t matter much as we were on city streets that were crowded, so, lo-speed all the way!

Dinner was great, too!! My work buddy and I were on government assignment, we sprang for wives to go with. Shows, bars with bands, we got a lot of work done 8-5 too.